Ralph Martin - The Warning; The Illumination of Conscience

hello brothers and sisters here is ralph  martin again president of renewal ministries   professor of theology at sacred heart  major seminary and i'm really i feel   like it's a privilege to be able to speak to  you every every other week or so along with   my colleague peter herbeck and share some of  the things the lord is putting on our hearts   sharing some things that we could be helpful to  people because of questions they're asking us   i'd like to talk today about an area that people  periodically ask me about it's about something   called the warning or the illumination of  conscience so what is this referring to   it's referring to a stream of prophecy that we can  find here and there in the catholic tradition and   we can find in some contemporary marian  apparitions and what it is talking about is going   to come a time where the lord and his great mercy  is going to address the whole world with some kind   of exterior sign that gets their attention  but also some kind of interior illumination   of where we stand with god and where we are as  regards sin and what our sins look like and uh   basically uh an invitation to profound  repentance by a very special grace of god   so this would indeed be a wonderful thing  if it happens and this is quite a bit of uh   indications that that very well might from  some very reliable sources so i'd like to   talk a little bit more about what some of these  sources say that i consider somewhat reliable   and uh what our response to it should be  what implications we should take away from it   first of all we have some references to it as  way back the time of edmund campion uh blessed   anna taji back in the 1700s and so 1600s 1700s but  more recently we have a very reliable source saint   faustina where jesus is talking to her in and she  writes it in her diary in section 83 of her diary   you know saint faustina as you know has been  recognized as a saint the main lines of what she   says in her diary that she reports from jesus  and mary have been recognized as on the whole   reliable and just because the church has  recognized her as a saint and john paul ii   has instituted divine mercy devotion and divine  mercy sunday as feasts in the catholic church   it doesn't mean that every word she speaks  is considered to be infallible but she's in   the ballpark and here's what she reports jesus  telling her she writes in her diary section 83   write this before i come as the just judge  i am coming first as the king of mercy   before the day of justice arrives there will be  given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort   all light in the heavens will be extinguished and  there will be great darkness over the whole earth   then the sign of the cross will be seen in the  sky and from the openings where the hands and   the feet of the savior were nailed will come forth  great lights which will light up the earth for a   period of time this will take place shortly before  the last day in other places in her diary jesus   tells her that he's calling her to a mission to  prepare the world for the second coming we also   have a very specific reference to this warning  or illumination of conscience in the purported   apparitions of mary at garam mandala there's  been a lot of controversy about gara bendall   there's some really strange phenomena associated  with it that need discernment but one of the   good things about garam mandala there's some very  clear predictions and depending on whether those   predictions come true or not i'm sure we'll for  form a large part of the church's discernment   about its authenticity so this is what jacinta one  of the children at garibandal in the early 1960s   heard mary telling her the warning that is is  something that is first seen everywhere in the   world and then is transmitted into the interior  of our souls it will last for very little time   but seem a very long time because of its effects  within us it will be for the good of our souls   in order to see ourselves our conscience the good  that we have failed to do and the bad we have done   then we will feel a great love toward our heavenly  father and ask forgiveness for all of our offenses   the warning is for us to draw closer  to him and to increase our faith   one should prepare for that  day but not await it with fear   god does not send things for the sake of  fear but rather with justice and love he   does it for the good of his children so they  might enjoy eternal happiness and not be lost another apparition this one i'm more familiar with  and has been extensively studied by psychologists   theologians church officials it's the one of  mary at medjugorje and one of the things we see   about medjugorje is that millions and millions  of people have been very positively impacted   hundreds of thousands of conversions lots of  vocations that are priesthood and religious life   i've come to know sister emanuel who's a sister  in one of the new religious orders in france   and she's there at medjugorje it's her mission  to be there to help pilgrims and to help   interpret it to people she has a website she  has a podcast she has a newsletter which i get   and i also have visited with her extensively  i have a very high regard for her holiness   her truthfulness her reliability her attention  to the actual details and facts and not rumors   i personally have a very positive impression of  medjugorje the church can't decide definitively   on these apparitions until they're over they're  still going on some of the visionaries are still   receiving visions either on their birthday  or once a year some are still receiving daily   apparitions from mary uh but recently the  church has all but given pastoral approval   to what's happening there they've appointed the  former archbishop of war sir poland a very solid   polish archbishop to be in charge of the sanctuary  of mejigoria and to really care for it as a place   of pilgrimage also the vatican has removed any  restrictions on bishops and cardinals leading   official diocesan pilgrimages there so the church  is recognizing it's a place where god is working   they're not making a judgment on all the visions  yet or all the apparitions they can't do that   until they're over but part of the messages that  these children have reported receiving from mary   include 10 secrets and you can't separate uh the  messages of medjugorje for the 10 secrets they're   clearly a part of them they won't be revealed  until the time is very close for them to be   fulfilled one of the secrets talks about a warning  or a chastisement another secret talks about a   permanent sign appearing at medjugorje garen  mendel says something very similar a permanent   sign appearing there at a certain point at  many of the marian sanctuaries so these are   very clear predictions very clear prophecies and  we'll just have to see if they come true or not   but in the meantime let's ask ourselves what this  illumination of conscience or what this warning   could possibly look at what could come from it  and how we should think about it and approach it   well one special day in medjagoria august 5th 1984  i think we received a foreshadowing or a foretaste   or maybe a preview of coming attractions of  what this this warning what this illumination   of conscience could look like i'd just like to  read to you from sister emmanuel's newsletter   as she interviewed people who were there  eyewitnesses and this is their testimony   she begins by saying the church celebrates the  nativity of the blessed mother on september 8th   this is a liturgical date however in 1984 the  queen of peace informed visca of maria and helena   that the date of her birth was actually august  5th and on that day she'd be 2000 years old   what an exceptional birthday she added on this  day the priests who confess who carry out the   sacrament of reconciliation will have great  joy so during the three days leading up to this   anniversary the villagers of medjugorje prepared  for the event with fasting and continuous prayer on the night before august 5th so on august 4th  helena vasli was holding the usual evening of   prayer with her prayer group suddenly in the  middle of the lord's prayer she was abruptly   interrupted by a strange phenomena in her  throat as if someone wanted to prevent her   from continuing it was then that she had the  vision of satan rolling on the ground with rage   furious he asked helena to tell her the blessed  mother not to bless the world the next day   helena who was already well trained  in spiritual warfare against the enemy   was careful not to enter into dialogue  with him and simply ignored his request   satan eventually withdrew and helena resumed  her prayer and peace it was then that she had   the vision of mary more radiant than ever and she  said to helena with a smile satan knows why he is   asking for this he knows that tomorrow august 5th  the most high has allowed me to bless the world   with my solemn blessing and he knows that on that  day he will be bound and will not be able to act   then came d-day according to a few witnesses whom  i met there were about 70 priests present in the   village and a few thousand people locals  and pilgrims without talking to each other   as if driven by an irresistible inner  force they all lined up to go to confession   the priest at the time sat outdoors  on chairs in the great meadow   around the church the people were confessing while  kneeling down on the ground the priests dispensed   the sacrament of confession without ceasing and  there were many conversions the remarkable event   the remarkable event is that not only did  everyone stand in line to receive the sacrament   but of all above all everyone was weeping never  seen before they were weeping over their sins   of course but what brought them tears was to  feel jesus's infinite love for them tears of   love and true contrition tears of happiness to  know themselves so loved and so deeply forgiven   even the priest wept to the point where one of  them said to me our stoles were drenched in tears   we were in tears at all those people who came  to confess grace was tangible an italian friend   who was present that day said to me you can't  imagine the peace that came down upon us from   heaven we could touch it i had never experienced  this before it was like heaven on earth some   tourists who came on holiday to the adriatic coast  to enjoy the beach felt moved to go to medjugorje   and the first thing they did when they arrived  was to expand the lines in front of the priests   many of them had long since stopped receiving the  sacraments one can imagine the joy of the heavenly   father to be able to offer his daughter mary this  beautiful harvest of souls as a birthday present   mary comes to bring us closer to the  heart of god and to reconcile us with him   that day she saw thousands of her children  running toward him and so many conversions   that evening during her apparition at 6 40 pm she  said to the visionaries these deeply moving words   dear children never in my life  that i cry so much from pain   as i weep tonight for joy thank  you keep praying and fasting   but remember dear children that tomorrow  satan will be out of his chains again i i believe this testimony i believe it  happened i believe it was a special grace   that god gave to honor mary i think it  was also a special grace he gave to say   the things that are prophesied by true prophets  the things that are prophesied by his mother will   indeed come to pass i don't recommend that people  kind of develop a lot of curiosity about timing   or get into the innumerable websites filled with  good stuff and bad stuff and you know crazy stuff   i i don't think we need to know anything more  other than that reliable people and reliable   apparitions perhaps have prophesied something like  the illumination of conscience and a warning that   god will give as a great mercy to souls so how  do we respond to it we respond to it with wow   that would be a wonderful thing because all of  us know people who we are really concerned about   who appear to be on the broad way heading to  destruction have appeared to commit themselves   to a life of unbelief a life of sin who appear  to have closed their hearts to the love of god   and we're very concerned about them  and wouldn't it be wonderful if god   did something special to give all these  people in the whole world a chance to repent   or a chance to see their sins and  be sorrow for their sins a chance to   know that god's love is reaching out to them  and respond but we shouldn't count on it   happening in our lifetime and we shouldn't  count on people necessarily responding to it   with an open heart so that means like jesus says  while the light lasts before this darkness this   warning this illumination of conscience is coming  work while the light lasts every day we need to   remember what the lord says if you hear his word  today hard not your heart if we're living in sin   if we haven't opened our heart up to the  love of the father if we haven't repented   if we haven't gone to confession in a  long time if we committed serious sins   we need to go to confession if we're catholic and  if we're not we need to confess them to the lord we can't wait we don't know how much longer we  have to live we don't know how much longer uh   friends that we're concerned about have to  live so we shouldn't hold back in any way   from praying and fasting for the conversion of  sinners for reparation for sin our own sin and   the sins of others we shouldn't hold back  from taking every advantage of opportunity   as peter says in one of his epistles to  offer a reason for the hope that's in us   we have lots of good reasons for the hope that's  in us we know that god exists we know that he   loves us we know that he doesn't want to be  hidden in some darkness where we can't see   him anymore but he sent his only son jesus that  jesus is the perfect representation of the father   that he who sees jesus sees the father we know  that jesus has spoken clear words to us words that   us ordinary human beings can understand about  what we must do to be saved rather than lost   we know that mary at fatima said that so many  souls are going to hell because so few people are   offering prayer and sacrifice for the conversion  of sinners so brothers and sisters do not delay   because maybe a chastisement is coming maybe a  permanent sign is coming maybe an illumination   of conscience is coming maybe a warning is  coming oh may it come may all those things come   but in the meantime let's not be deluded to think  that we can sit back and be casual in our own life   about zealously seeking the lord every day and  doing all we can right now for the conversion of   sinners i'd like to end with a scripture passage  from luke chapter 16 verses 19-31 it's another one   of those familiar scripture passages that have so  much meaning for us and relevance today i won't   read it all but you know the story there's the  poor man lazarus at the rich man's doorstep and   he's in such bad shape that the dogs are licking  his wounds but the rich man walks past him every   day and doesn't see him it doesn't have mercy on  him so they both die what happens the poor man is   in abraham's bosom the rich man is in hell so the  rich man calls out father abraham have mercy upon   me send lazarus to dip the end of his finger in  water and cool my tongue for i am an anguish in   this flame but abraham said son remember that  you in your lifetime received your good things   and lazarus in like manner evil things but now  he is comforted here and you are in anguish   and besides all this between us and you a  great chasm has been set so that in order   that those who would pass from here to you may  not be able and none may cross from there to us   and then he said i beg you father to send them  to my father's house for i have five brothers so   that he may warn them lest they also come into  this place of torment so lazarus is asking for   a special mercy for his brothers so that they  won't end up in hell he's asking for a special   illumination of conscience he's asking for a  special apparition he's asking for a special   grace but abraham said they have moses and the  prophets let them hear them and then he said   no father abraham but if someone goes to  them from the dead then they will repent   then he said to him if they do not hear moses and  the prophets neither will they be convinced if   someone should rise from the dead despite special  graces and special miracles that the lord may do   at some points in history and in some people's  lives out of his own wisdom out of his own   inscrutable wisdom his ways are above our  ways his thoughts are above our thoughts   he's just and all he does is just in all he  doesn't do but we need to take heed this lesson   even when god does special things people harden  their heart even when jesus rose from the dead   and appeared in glory there were those  who didn't believe and harden their heart   even when jesus did miracles and signs and  wonders all during his earthly lifetime   there were people who saw these signs and  wonders but didn't open their hearts to the   person who was being revealed in them so  i would like to end this short reflection   to say yes special graces may come in the future  for us and for others but don't depend on them   heed now the word that's being spoken to us  he now the revelation has been given to us   he now moses and the prophets and all the  books of the new testament and he now the   one who has truly risen from the dead and is  present and these words that are being spoken   is present in the rooms that we're in or the  car that we're in wherever we are jesus is   near us right now and don't hesitate right now to  respond to him every repentance in faith in love amen you

Channel: Renewal Ministries

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Length: 22min 12sec (1332 seconds)

Published: Tue May 04 2021